I am able to import data from an excel file using Pandas by using:
xl = read_excel(\'path_to_file.xls\', \'Sheet1\', index_col=None, na_values=[\'NA\'])
There are quite a few ideas about styling the cells on the Pandas website. However it ist mentioned: This is a new feature and still under development. We'll be adding features and possibly making breaking changes in future releases